tronapocalypse: All About the Arsonist

This page is dedicated to my favorite Weapons Factory class, the Arsonist. Here you will find some useful strategies for using the Arsonist.

-Offensive Tactics-

1. First let me state this: The Arsonist is NOT the best class to make an all out attack. He is best used like the Spy, to raise hell and mess up the enemies defenses. Due to his flamethrower’s limited range, the Arsonist is well suited for hit and run tactics, or for catching someone off guard in the corner and burning them with the flamethrower. 2. Feel free to engage an enemy Arsonist. He is not flame proof, just flame resistant. Just be persistant, and sooner or later he’ll burn too. :) 3. Use the Napalm Launcher to catch enemies off guard. What I mean by this is: when you shoot a napalm rocket, it goes where ever your crosshair is pointing, perfect for getting that sniper that’s waiting around the corner! 4. Don’t be afraid to use the flare gun. The best time for the flare gun is when one of your teammates has the enemy flag and needs support badly. Look for your flag carrier, and when he runs by, unleash a load of flares all around the place, so if there are any pursuers, they’ll think twice about trying to get their flag back! 5. Be persistant!! The enemy burns better with more hits from your flamethrower, so if the baddie goes for water, go after him! If you hit him under water, he’ll burn some more, and once he dies, usually a stream of curses will spew from his keyboard in your direction, just smile and know you did him a favor! :) 6. Sentry Killer?!? You dont need no stinkin Cyborg weapon to get rid of those nasty little sentries! Just whip out the flamethrower and circle strafe around the thing, either it will blow up in a nice explosion, or if something goes wrong, you die. But you will have done some massive damage to it, and if you can get back fast enough and do it again, you can get it! :)

-Defensive Strategy-

1. The Arsonist is best used as a midfield player. The flare gun is about the Arsonist’s best defensive weapon, but it doesn’t last long, and it’s hard to hit people with it. The napalm grenade should be used if there are multiple attackers around the team flag. If at all possible, single out one attacker and circle strafe around him with the flamethrower. Even if you die, the attacker will still be burning, and he has a pretty good chance of dying depending on how many times you hit him. 2. Use the flamethrower to spy check. Just shoot suspicious team members to see if they are not spies. If you hit someone that is a spy, he’ll spew some blood and start screaming, that’s your signal to give it to him with the flamethrower. =) 3. Use extreme caution when defending against snipers. Chances are, you’re not gonna reach him with the ol’ flamethrower, so if you’re feeling froggy, shoot a napalm rocket and try to steer it behind the wall where he’s hiding. Generally stay away from snipers and alert your team that someone needs to dispose of them.

-Other Stuff-

1. There really isn’t a perfect config or bind for the Arsonist, because he doesn’t have any special abilities except the fact he’s flame resistant. 2. The main thing I find helpful while being an Arsonist is to listen to your team, and tell them what’s going on every once in awhile. Therefore you will all benefit and prosper as a team. 3. Join a clan. If you are not already in one, try to find one that is recruiting members. Don’t give up if you are not accepted, because there are new clans forming every day, and many of those clans are badly in need of members. 4. Have fun. Don’t get all stressed out if you keep getting killed, remember, EXPERIENCE is POWER!

Sorry if this page looks like crap, if you have any suggestions or anything else, feel free to e-mail me at tronapocalypse@hotmail.com

More on Your Special Friend

Page 2 of Arsonist Stuff

-Flag Strategies-

1. Your question may be,”I have the flag, now what do I do!?!?!” Well, as an Arsonist, you don’t have a very good chance of blasting your way out, especially when there’s about 5 marines firing rockets at you! 2. One possible way of getting the flag home is to call for support (this is where the teamplay thing comes in). A good way for them to locate you is to drop a line of flares while running (remember that kiddie story where the kid dropped bread crumbs to help find the way?) Well, thats the strategy, if they can find you, there’s a heck of a better chance you’ll get the flag back. Even if you die, they’ll be someone else to get it and hopefully capture it. If not, well, at least you gave it an honest effort! :)

-More ways to make a mess-

1. Since the Arsonist is mediocre in offence, and ok on defense (contrary to what the handbook says, the Arsonist has his place in defense), it’s best to be a utility player. What I mean by this is just go where help is needed, if your team is aching for defense, go ahead and fal back there for awhile. If you see that your team is going to launch an offensive attack, join them, because they might be going in over their heads. If there is a bunch of enemy proximity bombs, go ahead and sacrifice yourself and smack into them all, it’s better for one person to die than to have the whole team weakened and be destroyed right next to the enemy flag! 2. Camp if needed (I can see some of you cringe!) A nice thing to do is hide in a corner or a dark place, and when a enemy walks by, burn him! It’s a good thing to do when you can hide behind a wall that the enemies don’t think of looking toward, and then nail them in the back with a few napalm rockets…you’ll be glad you did! 3. A way to get rid of those snipers! I think I said earlier that it’s kind of hard to fight snipers as an Arsonist. But by means of higher thinking, I have found that not to be true. If there’s a map with a balcony those snipers are on, sneak up there somehow (I SAID SNEAK NOT RUN LIKE A MADMAN!!!) and hit them with the flamethrower while they’re sitting there aiming at some other target. Chances are they’ll turn around, and if they have a good aim they’ll kill you. But that’s where the flame comes in handy! If you hit him enough times, he may still burn to his death even after you died a few minutes ago. 4. Another fun tactic I found with the Arsonist is to hide in the vents or airducts. If someone comes waddling in, you can smack them with the flamethrower a few times to make them think twice. Chances are they might turn back, if that happens, go after them. He’ll be easy to hit in that small duct, and he’ll be waddling like a duck slow enough for you to hit him repeatedly. 5. One Arsonist is good, two is better, three is absolute overkill. If you have three Arsonists with good communication skills, you can make yourselves the other team’s nightmare. You could have all three camp around your team’s flag, and wait for some unsuspecting enemy and jump him (three times the flame….three times the fun!!) and he’ll burn quite lovely! :)

-Some other important things

1. The Arsonist is not a class for the beginner. You need pretty good strafing/circle strafing skills to do the potential damage you need to have an impact. 2. Experiment! You’re only bound by the limits of your imagination (that sounds too much like some old saying). With the new MOCK mods coming up, there’s no end to what the Arsonist will become. I’ve played one where everyone gets the grapple (not good for a flame tossing maniac, his enemies, that is) and another where everyone could fly (oh the destruction I could raise in there!). 3. Play often, play hard. Play every time you get the urge to, I’d hate to say it, but practice makes perfect (I’m no where near perfect, so it’s more practicing for me!), but don’t over do it. If you feel like you’re not doing well, take a rest for awhile, WF is not going to leave for awhile, you can always go back and try again, or go to a different server.

Feedback

1. If you have any questions or comments concerning the Arsonist, or any tips I may have missed, send me an e-mail at tronapocalypse@hotmail.com and I will be sure to reply as soon as I see it. 2. I may begin to collect Arsonist binds, configs, aliases, so if you have any, send them to my e-mail! 3. I almost forgot, I use the name Firestarter[QAMP] in the WF servers, so if you see me, feel free to insult me anyway possible!https://web.archive.org/web/19991022054014/http://www.angelfire.com:80/mo/quake/arsonist.html